The School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS) offers bachelor's degree programs in 21 programs of study (curricula), many with several areas of further concentration (options). All programs of study are designed to achieve the goals outlined in the section on Missions, Goals, and Core Curriculum Requirements of the Undergraduate Program.

First-year students matriculating fall 2015 to fall 2018 and transfer students matriculating fall 2016 to spring 2019 must complete a goal-based Core Curriculum: sebs.rutgers.edu/core. Students wishing to adopt the fall 2019 Core Curriculum must meet with a dean at the Office of Academic Programs.

First-year and transfer students matriculating fall 2019 must complete a goal-based Core Curriculum: sebs.rutgers.edu/core.

The SEBS goal-based Core Curriculum is structured as a set of core liberal arts and sciences learning goals framed as activities that students will be able to do at a foundational level by virtue of meeting the specific core goal. Courses may be counted as meeting multiple learning goals; students generally will complete the core in 10 to 13 courses of 3 or 4 credits each. A course used to meet core goals may also be used to fulfill a major or minor requirement. Only graded degree credit-bearing courses worth at least 3 credits and certified by the faculty may be used to meet core goals. Lists of courses certified as meeting each goal can be found in the Degree Navigator system.

Contemporary Challenges

(6 credits) Students must take two courses and meet one goal in each of the Contemporary Challenges areas. [CC-D, CC-O]

Diversities and Social Inequalities [CC-D]

• Analyze the degree to which forms of human differences and stratifications among social groups shape individuals and group experiences of, and perspectives on, contemporary issues. Such differences and stratifications may include race, language, religion, ethnicity, country of origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, economic status, abilities, or other social distinctions and their intersections. 
• Analyze contemporary social justice issues and unbalanced social power systems.

Experiential Learning (previously called Experience-Based Education, EBE)

(3 credits) Practical application of disciplinary knowledge. Students must participate in a certified experience that meets this goal. [EL]

• Complete and report on an applied experience (e.g., professional practice, service learning, or research) in order to examine and evaluate ideas within a discipline.

Areas of Inquiry

Natural Sciences (6 credits) Students must meet two goals with courses in two of the following disciplines: physical, biological or environmental sciences. [NS]

• Understand and apply basic principles and concepts in the physical or biological sciences.
• Explain and be able to assess the relationship among assumptions, method, evidence, arguments, and theory in scientific analysis. 
• Identify and critically assess ethical and societal issues in science.

Social and Historical Analysis (9 credits; see HST and SCL below.)

• Understand the bases and development of human and societal endeavors across time and place.
• Explain and be able to assess the relationship among assumptions, method, evidence, arguments, and theory in social and historical analysis. 
• Identify and critically assess ethical issues in social science and history.

Historical Analysis (3 credits) Students must meet one goal. [HST]

• Explain the development of some aspect of a society or culture over time, including the history of ideas or history of science.
• Employ historical reasoning to study human endeavors.

Social Analysis (6 credits) Students must meet one goal in each area below. [SCL]

Social Cultural Analysis/ Economic Analysis (3 credits) [SCL-SCA/ECN]

• Understand different theories about human culture, social identity, economic entities, political systems, and other forms of social organization.
• Apply concepts about human and social behavior to particular questions or situations.
• Use the principles of economics, finance, and accounting to analyze and solve problems related to institutions, policies, and management.
• Evaluate the institutional factors that underlie and influence policy decisions.

Governance and Regulation Analysis (3 credits) [GVT]

• Analyze ethical, moral, and legal dimensions of environmental resource use, regulation, and management spanning governmental and nongovernmental institutions.
• Use theory and evidence from the social sciences to analyze the decisions made by organizations that affect resource use, the environment, and health; including the organizations involved, the influences on those decisions, and the intended and unintended consequences that are likely to result.

Arts and Humanities (3 credits) Students must meet one goal. [AH]

• Examine critically philosophical and other theoretical issues concerning the nature of reality, human experience, knowledge, value, and/or cultural production.
• Analyze art and/or literature in themselves and in relation to specific histories, values, languages, cultures, and technologies. 
• Understand the nature of human languages and their speakers. 
• Engage critically in the process of creative expression.

Cognitive Skills and Processes

Writing and Communication (6 credits) Students must meet one goal in two areas. [WC, WCd]

Expository Writing (101) or Exposition and Argument (103) (3 credits) [WC]

Quantitative and Formal Reasoning (6 credits) Students must meet two goals. [QQ; QR]

• Formulate, evaluate, and communicate conclusions and inferences from quantitative information. (Includes various quantitative methods courses as well as 640 courses) [QQ]
• Apply effective and efficient mathematical or other formal processes to reason and to solve problems. (Includes 640 courses and formal reasoning course--or placement out of) [QR]